


Bleeding Ash

by idrilsdarkwritings (idrilhadhafang)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dark Kylo Ren, Dark Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren, Darkfic, Emperor Kylo Ren, Hurt/Comfort, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren Throws A Tantrum, Kylo Ren is a Mess, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Prisoner Poe Dameron, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 11:56:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19376221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilsdarkwritings
Summary: Poe Dameron struggles to come to grips with his status as Emperor Kylo Ren’s prisoner.





	Bleeding Ash

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: dystopia
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Poe Dameron is all but dragged awake to watch the fire.   
  
It’s an all-too-familiar sight that he sees even as he looks out the window of Kylo Ren’s flagship. The sight of planets aflame, the sight of cities being reduced to ash. There’s something about it that makes him wonder if Ren — if Ben — brought him here just to torture him further. Like messing with his head literally wasn’t bad enough.   
  
Poe opens his mouth. He has to do something — say something against the galaxy’s new Emperor, even if it costs him his life.   
  
“Ben!” Poe can’t help but feel like he did back on Tuanul, when he was pleading for Kylo not to destroy the village. A part of him had wondered what exactly he expected considering it was the First Order, and yet there was a part of him that wanted to do whatever he could just to save the village from being destroyed. Because those people were innocent, and they didn’t deserve to die. “Just stop it! This isn’t you. You’re not a monster, Ben.”  
  
Kylo Ren advances towards him. Poe wonders, instinctively, if he’s about to hurt him, to slap him, flashing back to when Leia did it —  
  
— and Kylo stops. Poe hates that Kylo is telepathic, even now.   
  
There’s silence. Kylo actually looks horrified at what he’s nearly done. Poe can’t say that he understands. After all, Kylo had no qualms about torturing him, about slaughtering a village in front of him, about what he’s doing now. Slapping’s where he draws the line?   
  
Does anyone even begin to understand Kylo Ren?  
  
“Don’t call me by that name,” Kylo says after a while. At least his voice is softer now.   
  
***  
  
It’s in Poe’s quarters that Kylo says, “Did she...abuse you?”  
  
“Awfully rich of you to be asking me that.”  
  
“I don’t want to hurt you, Poe. I want you to understand what we’re doing. We’re bringing a new order to the galaxy. No Jedi, no Sith, none of that foolishness.”  
  
“Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force.”  
  
Kylo bristles with irritation. “Tekka told you that, didn’t he?”  
  
Silence. This time, Poe almost wants Kylo to see it.   
  
“The fool.”  
  
“I don’t see how you’re doing any better.”  
  
"We’re bringing order.”  
  
“You mean a dictatorship. There were so many things you were meant for, Ben,” and here he swears Kylo practically winces. Good. “But not this. You could have been beautiful.”  
  
Kylo sighs, the tension seeming to drain out of him in that moment. “That was a fool’s hope.”  
  
Poe can’t help but feel at least a prickling of pity despite himself. Kylo must sense it because he says, “I don’t deserve or want your pity. I have no use for it.”  
  
“I — ”  
  
“You disgust me.” Kylo leaves after he says it. Outside, Poe can practically hear something being smashed. He winces; he doesn’t envy that which got smashed.  
  
***  
  
It’s Kylo’s apprentice, Mara, that comes to visit Poe. “Things didn’t go well between you and the Emperor?”  
  
“They never go well,” Poe says.   
  
Mara swallows. “He’s not...a monster. I think in the end, he’s a very broken man.”  
  
“He’s probably both.” Stars willing that Poe has had to see both sides of him, and neither one of them are pretty.  
  
Mara sighs. “I suppose. I’m sorry, Poe.”  
  
Poe doesn’t know if “sorry” can really make up for it. How he hates Kylo Ren and loves Ben Solo with equal intensity. But he appreciates the effort. Maybe in this strange, awful place, he’s found some semblance of a friend.


End file.
